In the prior art possibly related to a device or kit or method of measuring the doneness of a cooked piece of meat, a meat testing fork and other surface-puncturing devices have been used to test the tenderness of meat by penetrating the meat. But tenderness of meat is not related to degrees of doneness of cooked meat. A piece of meat which is cooked to a rare degree can either be tough or tender, depending on the internal structure of that particular piece of meat, and the same rule applies to a piece of meat cooked to a medium rare, or medium well or well done degree of doneness. One current method of measuring the degree of doneness of meat is to cut it with a knife and observe the degree of doneness in the opening made by the knife. Several disadvantages of the penetration by knife or fork of a cooked piece of meat are the escaping of meat juices from the meat, the unevenness of cooking when heat escapes from the holes left by the knife or fork, and the relative unattractiveness of the surface-damaged cooked piece of meat when served to the consumer.
The prior art possibly related to this invention includes a device for testing the compression of flexible foam material but this compression testing device was never intended to be used on cooked meats or in any cooking method, nor did its inventor ever anticipate that a piece of meat undergoes a predetermined change in compressibility as it is being cooked.
The prior art possibly related to this invention also includes a gage for measuring the softness or texture resistance of a bakery product, especially bread. Softness means tenderness, which is desired by the majority of consumers. This device, which is used to determine the tenderness and internal texture or structure of bread, is not related to the present invention which measures the degree of doneness of cooked meat.